The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has sought permission to get insurance cover from private companies and exemption of all applicable taxes and marketing fee on import of commodities in a bid to reduce handling charges. The demand was placed before the special committee of Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet for consideration in its meeting held on Monday with Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Syed Naveed Qamar in the chair.
The meeting was also attended by Federal Ministers for Food and Agriculture Nazar Muhamad Gondal and Planning Commission Makhdoom Shahabuddin. The TCP requested that the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL) should be instructed to provide insurance cover to TCP''s consignment on reduced rates or be allowed to get insurance cover from the private companies on the import of commodities to reduce handling charges.
The TCP also proposed exemption from applicable taxes, duties, marketing fees like customs duty, sales tax, additional sales tax, income tax, additional/advance income tax and the PSQCA marketing fee. The TCP maintained that the food departments of Sindh, Punjab, NWFP, Balochistan, AJK and army should be directed to arrange their own packing material, i. e. PP bags for filling of imported wheat and rates of PP bags should be through open bidding instead of pre-qualification procedure.
The TCP also requested to allow the import of stevedoring equipment - evacuators, bagging plants and hydraulic grabs and call rates - from all stevedores to perform the work by using the TCP''s stevedoring equipments.
The TCP further said that in case of wheat, ultimate recipients, ie food departments of Sindh, Punjab, NWFP, Balochistan, AJK, and army should be directed to arrange their own transportation/lifting measures to take imported wheat direct from vessel/port with maximum capacity; and also receivers be penalised in case of slow lifting to avoid delay in discharging of cargo from port and avoid vessel''s demurrage.
It was also urged that funds should be arranged for TCP in advance instead of borrowing from banks to avoid the financial cost. The committee, after deliberation, recommended that preference should be given to private sector for import of commodities and transportation costs should also be borne by the provinces.
To bring in more transparency into the system, it was recommended that the one and the same company should not do multiple functions such as stevedoring, clearing and forwarding, etc. It was recommended that during the meeting that the provinces be asked to bring their own polypropylene /jute bags.
The issue of wheat transportation to the provinces came up during a recent meeting between the provinces and the Federal government during which the TCP was accused of hiring transport companies that not only charged higher than the market rate but also did not deliver to its destination. The ECC constituted a committee to look into the matter, which has resulted in the necessary amendments.
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